Narrabri pacers place in Newcastle

Two Narrabri owned and trained pacers ran to places at a TAB meeting at the Newcastle Harness Racing Club on Saturday night.

Future Fun and Kid Montana both travelled for the meeting where they were driven by Narrabri reinsman Chris Shepherdson who is a part owner of both geldings alongside fellow Narrabri men Peter and Garry Shepherdson, Neil Drysdale and Nathan and Charles Dicks.

The two pacers finished second and third respectively in different races at the afternoon meeting.

The odds were against Future Fun which competed in the first race of the evening.

That was the 1609 TAB Odds and Evens Pace in which Future Fun was a $101 outsider.

The five-year-old started one in from pole position on the front row and dropped onto the pegs early and settled down in third position behind the pole position starter Straddie which was the $1.50 favourite.

With one lap left to run Future Fun was still running third down the inside lane.

With 300 metres to go the Clayton Harmey-trained, Blake Hughes-driven Straddie still led and Future Fun was still third, and in second position was the Cameron Davies-trained, Guy Chapple-driven Dancing In America.

At that stage it was clear that Straddie would run away to the win however the battle for second was on.

Future Fun and Dancing In America battled side-by-side down the final straight for second and it was the Narrabri pacer which got the job done, running home five metres behind the winner in second place, while Dancing In America placed third.

The second-placed finish was Future Fun’s first top-three run in 12 starts since he placed third in Tamworth back in January.

In 61 starts he now has six wins, seven second-place finishes and seven third-place finishes, and the $1170 he earned in Newcastle took his career earnings to $34,135.

Kid Montana was next up, starting from the number 10 barrier on the second row in race four which was the 1609-metre Somerset Meats Pace.

Early in the race Kid Montana found himself five back the inside which is where he was still running with one lap to go.

Running just in front of Kid Montana was the Roy Roots Junior-trained, Tom Ison-driven The Black Prince which was the race’s $1.22 favourite.

With about 750 metres left to run space opened up for The Black Prince and Kid Montana and they both took advantage.

The Black Prince charged up to join the Mark Callaghan-trained, Jack Callaghan-driven frontrunner Royal Gamble, while Kid Montana cruised into fourth position.

The Black Prince and Royal Gamble left the home turn running side by side about 10 metres in front of Kid Montana.

The Black Prince stormed home to win by a half-head margin from Royal Gamble, then Kid Montana placed third, 13 metres back from that pair.

That third-placed finish was the five-year-old’s eighth in 64 career starts to go with 23 wins and eight second-place finishes.

He now boasts a 36 per cent win rate and a 61 per cent top-three finish rate, and his $780 in prizemoney in Newcastle took his total career earnings to $119,168.